Bo Is Expelled From Parliament, but Trial Date Is Unclear

By

Jeremy Page

Updated Oct. 25, 2012 11:02 p.m. ET

BEIJING—Former Communist Party star
Bo Xilai
was expelled from the nation's rubber-stamp parliament, state media reported on Friday, stripping him of his legal immunity and setting the stage for his trial on a number of alleged offenses.

But the move, which was widely expected, still leaves unclear whether the trial will take place before November's party meeting, and an attorney Mr. Bo's mother-in-law hired to defend him said it is unlikely to take place before then.

ENLARGE

Bo Xilai has yet to meet with the lawyer hired by his mother-in-law.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

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Chinese leaders are thought to have been anxious to conclude the scandal surrounding Mr. Bo ahead of the 18th Party Congress, which begins on Nov. 8 and which will mark the start of a once-a-decade leadership change. His wife,
Gu Kailai,
was convicted in August of murdering a British businessman.

But having reached an agreement in September that Mr. Bo should also face criminal charges, party chieftains are now preoccupied with the leadership change, making it increasingly unlikely a trial will happen before the meeting, party insiders, lawyers and analysts said.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress terminated his post as a congress deputy, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Friday. The move was made "according to the law," said a statement from the Standing Committee quoted by Xinhua.

The lawyer hired to defend Mr. Bo,
Li Xiaolin,
said Thursday that he hadn't been able to meet with Mr. Bo, but believed his new client was being held in Qincheng prison on the outskirts of Beijing, which is reserved for high-profile political figures.

In preparation for the congress, the party's Central Committee—its top 300 leaders—is due on Nov. 1 to begin a meeting expected to last about four days.

Mr. Li, a prominent Beijing-based criminal lawyer, said he had been hired by Ms. Gu's mother,
Fan Chengxiu,
to defend Mr. Bo, but hadn't yet started to work on the case and had been given no indication of when the trial might start.

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"I think the trial shouldn't start before the congress, as time is too tight, so the rumors that it will start in the next few days are incorrect," said Mr. Li. "It's a legal case and should not be handled as a political one." Mr. Li's hiring was reported late Wednesday by the Washington Post.

Chinese authorities have yet to announce formal charges against Mr. Bo, who was fired from his party posts in April, but the leadership announced last month that he had been handed to judicial authorities to face trial following an internal party investigation.

The party's Politburo—currently made up of its top 24 members—accused Mr. Bo on Sept. 28 of a litany of alleged criminal and other offenses, including bribe-taking, abuse of power during the investigation into his wife, and inappropriate sexual relations with multiple women, Xinhua reported. It gave no indication of when a trial might start.

In theory, a trial could still happen in the next two weeks: It would need to last for only one day in a country where the party controls police, prosecutors and judges and decides the outcomes of politically sensitive trials in advance, according to lawyers, legal experts and party insiders.

The trial of Mr. Bo's wife, Ms. Gu, lasted only one day. The trial of
Wang Lijun,
the former police chief of the southwestern city of Chongqing who sparked the Bo scandal when he fled to a U.S. Consulate in February, lasted two days. But in each of those cases, there were several days between the indictment, the trial and the verdict.

Party insiders and political analysts say that the leadership could be wary of appearing to rush the Bo trial, or reigniting public interest in the issues at the core of the scandal—corruption and abuse of power in the party elite—so close to the leadership change.

Mr. Li said he hadn't even started completing the necessary paperwork to register with judicial authorities as Mr. Bo's lawyer.

"We haven't been involved in the case yet. We need to apply to the relevant judicial organ, and we haven't started work on it yet," he said. "I'm not a fortune teller, so I can't tell how long after the congress the trial will start and how long the process will take."

Mr. Li had also been hired to defend a Bo family aide,
Zhang Xiaojun,
who was convicted along with Ms. Gu for murdering the British businessman
Neil Heywood
in his hotel room in Chongqing in November 2011.

But Chinese authorities blocked Mr. Li from representing Mr. Zhang in court and a government-approved lawyer was appointed instead, according to people familiar with the matter. Nonetheless, Mr. Li thought there was a possibility he would be allowed to represent Mr. Bo in court.

Mr. Li said Ms. Gu's mother had also hired
Shen Zhigeng,
another prominent criminal lawyer, to defend Mr. Bo. But Mr. Shen denied that when contacted by the Journal. He was hired to defend Ms. Gu by her family at her trial but was blocked from representing her in court.

Mr. Bo hasn't commented or appeared in public since he was ousted as Chongqing party chief in March.

Mr. Li said he didn't know if he would be allowed to meet Mr. Bo at Qincheng prison, and had no information about where Ms. Gu was being held, although lawyers and party insiders have said they thought she would be held at Yancheng prison, also just outside Beijing.

Chinese authorities don't provide details about how many inmates are in each prison, or what their facilities are like.

But one Chinese newspaper, the Shenzhen Economic Daily, published a rare feature article on Qincheng in May. It said standard cells were about 20 square meters, each with a toilet and a bed, and that cells for major criminals had walls padded with rubber to stop them from harming themselves.

It also said that prominent political figures had larger cells, some furnished with desks, bathrooms, sit-down toilets and washing machines, and were permitted to watch television for two hours every evening. Senior figures with health problems can also receive private care from family members, it added.

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